Asian Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition

Tillage management lies at the heart of debates about sustainable agriculture, soil health, and climate change mitigation. As global interest in conservation agriculture and climate-smart farming intensifies, a rigorous reassessment of the long-term sustainability outcomes of tillage and no-till systems has become essential. This article presents a critical narrative review of the peer-reviewed literature on the agronomic, environmental, and socioeconomic dimensions of conventional tillage, no-till, and conservation agriculture, considered within the emerging framework of climate-smart agriculture. The evidence reveals a nuanced picture: no-till management offers meaningful benefits for soil physical properties, aggregate stability, water conservation, and reduced fuel emissions, but its role as a net greenhouse gas mitigation strategy is more limited and context-dependent than commonly assumed. While no-till often concentrates soil organic carbon in surface horizons, evidence for consistent deep-profile gains remains contested. Nitrous oxide emissions show mixed patterns that are strongly influenced by climate, soil drainage, and duration of practice. Crop yield responses to no-till vary considerably by crop type, aridity, and companion management practices; the integration of cover cropping and diverse crop rotations substantially enhances performance. Adoption barriers remain considerable among resource-poor smallholder farmers, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where promised productivity gains have frequently fallen short of expectations. Climate-smart agriculture provides a useful policy lens for aligning tillage decisions with adaptation, mitigation, and food security objectives, but its implementation requires site-specific targeting rather than prescriptive adoption. This review calls for integrated, context-sensitive tillage strategies underpinned by long-term experimental evidence, robust life-cycle accounting, and participatory approaches that respect the constraints of diverse farming communities.